IHC issues notices to federation, others

Urdu as official language

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday issued notices to the federation of Pakistan, secretary establishment division and secretary ministry of law and justice in a petition seeking court's directions to declare Urdu as an official language in the government offices.A single member bench of IHC comprising Justice Noor-ul-Haq N Qureshi conducted the hearing of the petition filed by Akram Chaudhry. During the hearing of the petition, the petitioner apprised the bench that the government should ban English language in offices and declare Urdu as official language in all its correspondences. He contended that it was mentioned in the article 251 of the constitution of Pakistan that Urdu would be declared as the official language after 15 years but it had not been done so far. He was of the view that it was clearly violation of the constitution. After hearing the arguments, the bench issued notices to the respondents and deferred the hearing till May 22 for further proceedings in this matter.In another matter, the same IHC bench suspended the posting of a deputy superintendent of police (DSP) of criminal investigation agency (CIA) at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). It was April 23 when ministry of interior issued the orders for deputation of four DSPs and seven inspectors at the FIA for a period of three years.DSP Masood moved the IHC through his counsel Syed Mohammad Tayyab Advocate and challenged his posting. He made interior secretary, director general FIA and inspector general of Islamabad police as respondents.In his petition, he contended that in sharp violation of the deputation rules, the authorities of the Islamabad police and the interior ministry never sought their consent. He maintained that under the rules, the official could not be sent to any other department without his consent. "Deputation is an agreement between the borrowing and lending organisation for an individual for a specific period which could not be executed without the consent of the person in question," he added.His counsel pointed out that Masood was going to be retired on January 1, 2015 and at this stage of service, the official could not be sent to any other department which would be alien to him. After suspending his posting, Justice Qureshi directed the abovementioned respondents to submit their reply within fortnight.